Chapter 9

This book is going to be a long read . . How many more chapters of sadness can one take?

But that’s kind of the point, really. When he’s told of God’s judgement against His own people, Jeremiah reacts kind of as one would if they’d just been told of a close friend’s terminal illness.

Which is really very similar to what he’s been told, when you think about it. Jeremiah loves the city of Jerusalem and its people, and to hear that this city will be destroyed – in his own lifetime, as we discover later – must be hard to bear. I can easily imagine how I’d feel if the prophecy was against Sydney. I’d cry, I’d rail against God, I’d demand of God that he relent . . .

Just as Jeremiah does here, really.

It all seems so hopeless, so forlorn. . .

And then suddenly, from nowhere, we get this amazing little passage in verses 23 and 24. It’s here that I intend to concentrate the rest of this devotion – I think I have handled quite enough sadness for now!

Jeremiah throws in this gem: “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

We often pride ourselves on many things. I know my own weak spots tend to be related to how much I know; My brains vs your brawn any day of the week. Or perhaps other people might find that their weak spot to be their abilities or their possessions.

None of these are bad things, but the only thing worth boasting about is God!

Everything we can do is something that we were designed to do in certain circumstances, and boasting is no exception. But we are called to boast in God instead of in ourselves!

What opportunies have you missed lately?